Photokina 2012: Hasselblad plans to release a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera utilizing Sony's E-Mount. The Hasselblad Lunar, which is expected to cost around €5000 (~$6500) appears to share a lot of technology with Sony's recent NEX-7 model, including the same 24.3MP CMOS sensor, OLED 'True Finder' EVF, and the 'TriNavi' navigation system. The Lunar, which is set for launch in the first quarter of 2013, will be available 'in a choice of standard models plus a variety of exclusive hand grips and precious materials on special order.'

Press release:

Hasselblad plans Lunar launch

Hasselblad, manufacturer of the world’s most advanced medium format camera system, has announced a revolutionary plan to market a state-of-the-art, Italian-designed ‘ultimate luxury’ mirrorless, interchangeable lens camera early next year.

Luca Alessandrini Hasselblad’s New Business Development Manager said: “The Lunar is a celebration of the passion that the company’s founder Victor Hasselblad had for photography. We’ve developed this model in the traditional way, using handmade wooden prototypes to ensure superior ergonomics and functionality. This is a camera for both serious photographers and enthusiasts who aspire to shooting with a Hasselblad.”

He added: “Lunar, which can be used in fully automatic or fully manual mode, has been designed to be easy to use and versatile but with all the advanced technology employed in top DSLRs. For the first time the market now has a camera embracing traditional Hasselblad state-of-the-art image capture combined with stunning Italian design features.

And for the first time ever we are using carbon fiber, titanium, wood, leather and precious metals – including gold. The camera grip itself offers unparalleled ergonomics and has been developed to embrace both compact E-mount and the larger professional A-mount lenses.”

The Lunar, which is set for launch in the first quarter of 2013, will be priced circa 5000 Euros and will be available in a choice of standard models plus a variety of exclusive hand grips and precious materials on special order.

Hasselblad will showcase a unique ‘Lunar experience’ at photokina. Visitors to the stand (Hall 2.1 Stand A-021/B-020) will see a ‘snapshot’ of latest work-in-progress designs and wood- en models, purpose-built to demonstrate the company’s pioneering ‘ideal luxury’ camera vision.

Dr. Larry Hansen, Hasselblad Chairman and CEO said: “It has always been my ambition to enable all fans of the iconic Hasselblad brand to have an opportunity to own one of our cameras. The company mission is to develop exceptional products at the very top end of the market segments in which we operate. In 1962 astronaut Walter Schirra took the first Hasselblad camera into space. Walter had painted the 500C’s metal surface black to minimise reflections. Now, in celebration fifty years later, we have developed Lunar – an aesthetically and ergonomically beautiful piece of camera art, complete with colour options and an evocative vintage look and feel, for photography lovers down here on planet Earth.”

Accurate composition for both still and video in any light conditions thanks to the Ultra-bright 3” high definition display and revolutionary OLED viewfinder that guarantees superior contrast and ultra fast response.

One-touch instant full HD video recording to shoot in Auto or fully manual mode. Focus and exposition control plus the connection for an external microphone and the option to use larger A-mount lenses for professional video creation.

Instant shutter response (0.02 second release time lag) ten frames per second and an extremely Wide ISO 100 -16000 range.

The camera software includes an exceptionally comprehensive set of creative styles, picture effects, scene selections and the smart ”intelligent face registration” making the shooting experience even more fun.

Auto HD, DRO and Anti-motion blur mode.

An Innovative TriNavi system for DSLR-like tuning, two flash options and Anti dust system complete the Lunar state-of-the-art package.

Added Dr. Hansen: “This new model is the result of meticulous engineering research, culminating in the creation of an unprecedented camera which underpins the Hasselblad mission to pioneer and produce supreme quality across all our products.”

here seems that Hasselblad was first before Pentax ... Who will be first in the MF mirrorless category and who will give larger than 5'' display with interchangable lens in the MF mirrorless category? Apple, Nokia or ... ?:)

Yesss - that is a right marketing idea for rich people tired of expensive & heavy Nikons & Canons, people which want something special.

They are tired of explaining to everybody on the yacht that: "... this Nikon has a full-frame sensor and it only looks like ordinary camera .." and than half an hour explaining what "full-frame sensor" is, to the friends which do know about photographing so much as nothing. . About design we do not need to speak, because such people do not have any taste for it anyway.

Here those friends will hear only short answer: "Hasselblad!" and they will know that this is something very expencive & that Nikon&Canon Co. are a piece of s**t comared with Hasselblad.:o))))

What is worst in this story, is that Sony is obviously flattered; a total underdog in photo industry comes to be heavyweight champion by throwing random punches around, and today, a former champion giving the newcomer the kitschy belt of the champions. His time has gone, but he's still around and asks the kid to take a picture together. And the new kid loves it, loves flattery, loves attention, feels invincible.It is Sony who has zero taste. Not Hasselblad; they are simply mocking them.

Showing mock-ups (I'm judging by the look of dials) this bad means that they don't expect anyone from the target group to actually see it at photokina, I suppose. They'll show the final version on the Moscow Yacht Show or something...

Exactly what I was thinking. I hope Hasselblad studied that disaster, but it appears not well enough. Probably thought they would succeed because they were a great name already instead of a corporate parvenu like Vertu.

If it weren't for the price, and if the display models didn't look so tacky compared to the renderings (the bottom left one is starting to grow on me).... then maybe I wouldn't be laughing so hard right now.

My god, it's beyond bad design it's ludicrous. Hasselblad in my view have pretty much the best name in the camera industry, but they quickly need to replace their design team to save the business if this is the future. This is nothing short of a embarrassing joke.

I do not agree with all the criticism here. In business you do not want to produce the best products but to make money.

If owners of Leica brand buy cheap crap from Panasonic, put their red dot Leica logo on it and find rich idiots who pay couple times more for it - why wouldn't they do that?

If owners of Zeiss brand put their logo on cellphones' and computer cameras' crappy PEEPHOLE and still find customers for premium lenses in the same time in spite of self-depreciating the brand to make some more money - they do that.

Leica and Zeiss are no longer valuable brands objectively, but on the market they are doing fine selling the rights of putting logos on crap. Hasselblad just wants to take their chance too. Too bad though...

P.S. Of course, I do not mean NEX as crap untill it's priced 10 times that what you can easily get it for...

I am sorry, but Leicas are also all those V-Lux, D-Lux, C-Lux etc they are just Panasonic Lumixes with their tiny sensors - just toys more expensive that most real cameras.

Zeiss logo is carried by all my ridiculously tiny sensors cellphones and Logitech "camera" from a dollar store.

"No longer valuable brands" means a value for a customer - if you get products with those logos you cannot be sure to get any of good products anymore. In most cases you are getting a way overpriced toys or just cheap toys now...

Your argument is invalid. For that extra $5k, Leica offers style and a unique shooting experience. Hassleblad offers only ridicule and embarrassment. Even Hipsters who thrive on making the uncool cool like to do so frugally.

I would feel sorry for those fools who have bought Leica cameras, except they obviously have a lot more cash than I, and they don't realize that they've been duped - that rangefinder technology should be much cheaper to implement than EVF technology. Taking away technology shouldn't triple, quadruple, or quintuple the price. That obviously doesn't make sense. But some people will buy a completely overpriced camera just because of that Leica logo.

Hasselblad made a big mistake. If they'd made this complete rip-off of a camera a rangefinder, rich people would be going ga-ga over it. "Wow! ANOTHER unique shooting experience!"

i agree somehow, but everyone knows that the zeiss lenses in cellphones are different to zeiss movie primes, so what ?^^

also lwith eica, everyone knows there are cheap leica compacts that are rebranded panasonics, and again, so what?

the point of this specific camera is the incredible ugly design, not the fact that they rebrand, which they dont do, because they make a new body, thats a lot more than putting a red dot on a panasonic.

but again, for me its about design thats 1:1 taken from a disneys jules verne movie. its like captain nemos camera.

i mean yeah ok lets sell it to oil sheiks jippy, but why not make it look cool? thats what i cant understand. look at leica and just release a special ostrich leather/gold/platin/marble whatever camera every few month, for those people its about material prices, not design, so why not make it attractive for those that would buy it as a camera ?!

I can see there is some misunderstanding - I mentioned specified series of Leica (C,D,V-Lux) which are just cheap, tiny sensor plastic Panasonic Lumix toys with only 2 differences (logo and "unique feeling at a cash register").

I truly regard M9 as one of the best landscape cameras ever made though. It is overpriced too, but at least it is top quality.

Now - imagine that you bought this M-9 for $ 5000 or more. You recommend it for it's quality. A friend of yours who just wants a good camera for home use trusts you and looks for the brand you use. He or she gets V-Lux and pays the money that would get a real camera for. The picture quality turns out toyish.

Isn't it ruining down the reputation (theirs and yours) for a few dollars in a short time? Because in longer period market will not consider these brands to be more exceptional in any ways that Samsung, in my opinion of course...

luxury very often comes with bad taste. please hasselblad think this over. make a full frame mirrorless. use some hasselblad lens designs. or do something else which might be useful. this ist the worst thing I have seen in a long time. ugly, bulky. oil sheik design. this hurts my eyes. please hasselblad reconsider this ! urgently. this will be a flop like the original pricing of the sigma sd1 pricing. it will also be bad for your reputation in the pro segment. no decent person will ever appreciate this ugly nouveau riche design !!!

Somebody left some kids at Hasselblad's R&D department. Or maybe IKEA and Hasselblad have trade their engineers. Well at least Pentax/Ricoh [K0-1] is happy They are not number 1 anymore in the ugliest camera in 21st century.

I'm actually kinda wondering if Hasselblad will come out and say, "Oh, we were joking, here's what we actually came up with," then introduce a camera that shows some design thought beyond gluing random stuff to another company's camera.

Sorry - thats too deep for me.You must be one of those analytical types who tries to understand what goes on in the world and why, just for entertainment and mental stimulation exercise. Careful - don't overdo it bud.

Actually, in Manhattan, Trump's apartment buildings are nowhere near the pinnacle of "luxury" residences. The buildings themselves are staid and rather conventional, with great views, but not much else that is special. They are for people with money, but no taste, much like the Lunar.

The sad thing is that there's nothing "Hasselblad" about this product. It's a Japanese guy in Swedish clothes.

You may argue that Hassy are, like Leica, one of the few photography companies that can pull off selling a $6000 mirrorless camera, but Leica can because Leica make Leica cameras, and they exist mostly in their own Leica bubble and come up with products that they like and understand. They are auteurs. While everyone else is involved in pushing the market, pricing their products in tiers that align with their competitors, engaging in price wars, and coming up with features that out-do their competitors, Leica is just making high quality stuff that they enjoy using. People like small-scale individualism, whether it's a small business on Etsy, or an old camera company.

Hasselblad is a photography company, but this product does not clearly have Hasselblad's fingerprint deeply engrained, and so it won't be deemed worthy of its price tag.

That Panasonic and Leica play this game too, doesnt make it any better. Only proves that there are people that happily pay a premium to have certain Brand label to show off. And there are people that laugh at these people.

At least Pana/Leica only hike the price by 50%-100%. Not 400% like this Sony/Hassy thingamabob. If someone buys this thing people will not just laugh, they will say "poor fellow, now he has completely lost it".

Leica's primary digital consumer product aren't their Panny LX5 variants. I know that Leica does "rebrand" their lesser consumer cameras, and knew before I posted earlier. However, I do see those products as meaningless "stocking stuffers". They're a joke. It's like Canon selling an $80 point and shoot. They put no effort into those types of generic cameras, and if they're crap, it doesn't tarnish Canon's image as a camera company (no pun intended). They're not indicative of the type of products that Canon really produces!!

For Hassy, this really IS a real consumer product that they're betting their image on. It's $6000. This is a $6000 P.O.S., and it's the only Hasselblad product that many photographers are going to know of. Not every photographer is 40+ years old. I'm 32 years old, been shooting for over a decade, and have never seen a Hasselblad. I don't even know what they look like. Well....I do now. They look like s---.

Here's the difference between Leica rebranding Panasonic compact cameras.... and Hassleblad pimping out a Sony NEX-7:

Leica selects the best compact cameras Panasonic makes, then gives them a very tasteful cosmetic makeover. Then, they actually do provide some additional value by giving their customer a better warranty, more prestige, better customer service, better software, and sometimes free cases or memory card with the camera.

For this... Leica charges you around a 35% premium over the Panasonic price. You decide if it is worth the extra price.

But Hasselblad has taken the Sony flagship MILC camera and had some designer on crack cocaine pimp it out in a garish and tasteless way. Then, they hit with a 600% surcharge for "improving the camera."

If the result was better looking or more useful than the original, then some folks might buy it. But even the people with money to burn will pass up this monstrosity. Not because it costs too much, but because it is so ugly.

As Dr. Hansen says: this "aesthetically and ergonomically beautiful piece of camera art, complete with colour options and an evocative vintage look and feel, for photography lovers down here on planet Earth.” I'm proud to be from earth!

What's the $ amount of your gear? If it's more than the cost of a P&S you must bring it to your local welfare office to be given to those who are in need. It would be your way to help distribute the wealth.

If this is Hasselblad's attempt to go out of business gracefully, they need to look up the definition of "graceful" Seriously, Sony's E-mount? Have they looked at whats on offer there? Sheesh. What a ugly pig. I feel bad for the folks manning their both at photokina!

One has to look at this camera in the contex of 'luxury goods' If Leica can do it then the only other 'brand' that can optimistically compete would be Hasselblad. The only segment throughout the world that is not affected by the economy at the moment is the super rich...the ones that buy Leica, Bugatti, Ferrari, Panerai, because they can...and many of the older generation will remember the brand 'Hasselblad' and associate that with 'quality' and 'the best' there is, a market segment with deep pockets but only for exclusive products with hefty price tags...so why not..us normal 'common and garden variety' photogographers can't afford it and therefore dont want it but in a way it makes good business sense...just look at how Leica's fortunes have changed lately..

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